About Taína Asili carries on the tradition of her ancestors, fusing present and past struggles into one poetic song-voice. She is a puertorriqueña vocalist, poet, visual artist, educator, activist and mother from Philadelphia, PA and Albany, NY. Her newest artistic work is with her live band, Taína Asili y La Banda Rebelde, soulful vocals laid over a unique infusion of rock, neo-soul, reggae, hip hop, and Afro-Caribbean sounds. The band's eclectic style represents the diversity of its band members, who have origins in Puerto Rico, Sicily, Greece, Brazil and Tanzania. Taína Asili carries a fire breathing voice of rage and resistance to venues, festivals, conferences and political events across the country. She weaves resistance, love, anti-colonialist struggle, ancestral remembrance, and more into a unique and unforgettable vocalization style. Taína is a winner of the 2005 “Transformation Award” given by the Leeway Foundation each year to a select few of women artists who profoundly use their work towards social change. Taína has shared the stage with artists such as Ursula Rucker, Sonia Sanchez, Pamela Means, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique and Tyrone Hill of The Sun Ra Arkestra. She can be witnessed in Scene and Not Heard, a documentary about women and hip hop culture in Philadelphia, also featuring Bahamadia and Monie Love. She was voted Albany’s “2006 Best Poet” in The Metroland, Albany, NY’s premier alternative news weekly. As a part of the Puerto-rock band Ricanstruction you can hear her vocals blow on their album “Love and Revolution.” Taína is now working with La Banda Rebelde on their debut album “Mama Guerrilla,” to be released in 2008 on the Rebel Army Media label.